After securing title, plates, and insurance, I picked up the 2002 Savage I bought last week for $1400. I'll get a photo up when it's daylight and I can take a decent one.
It's stock except for Suz-branded saddlebags and a smoke-tinted shield. Also had the raptor mod done already. I turned over 6K miles on the way home. Drove it about 40 miles.
My overall first impression is overwhelmingly positive. I like this bike. A lot.
As a sportbike type, I was worried I wouldn't like the seating position. In fact, the more I rode it, the less cramped I felt, just a matter of getting used to it. I had gone to Lowe's yesterday for the requisite #7 bottle stoppers and 6mm bolts, figuring I'd do the seat mod as soon as it got in the garage. I probably will still do it, but I don't feel a real hurry to do so.
I had thought I'd be going "low and slow". It was
low, but I spent quite a bit of time going not-so-slow. This thing pulls forever in 3rd gear, every time I glanced down at the speedo on the city streets, I was doing 10 mph over the limit.
Compared to the Kaw GPz, I'm hardly using the gearbox. The thing feels like it will happily putter along all day.
I threw everything at it- potholed city streets, winding country roads, two separate Interstate blasts- the Savage handled it all with aplomb.
The Suz handles the urban guerrilla role much better than my old Kaw does, the Kaw is a bit too stiff for the city streets. And it's decent on the freeways as well. Not nearly as buzzy as I thought it would be.
I find it hard to get the turn signal switch back to center, it seems to always go too far and signal the other direction. And I'm going to want a tach. A fuel gauge would be nice as well. The ignition key is in a ridiculous location. But these are all just minor gripes.
My speedo is about 5 degrees off kilter, seems like the dial turned in the bezel. Or maybe the whole unit did.
Overall, the bike is everything I'd hoped it would be. I'll do a few things to "make it mine", but mostly I envision my Savage staying bone stock.